dad – Every Room’s a Classroom

Scrabble for the Win

Sometimes a game is not all about winning or losing.

A friend of Collier’s passed away from Covid-19 complications a few weeks ago. He was thirty-four years old, but still a peer of Collier’s, as they played on the Achiever’s League baseball team together. You may have heard or seen something about him on Facebook – his name was Chris “Yep Yep” Pettiford, and heContinue reading “A Baseball Friend Goes Home”

Best-laid Plans

Saturday morning started out a lot like other Saturday mornings. Collier and I went to karate, and I was practicing my form after our class. (Yes, I started taking karate with Collier this month as a parent-challenge the karate studio is doing. That’s another blog post entirely. I’m thinking of titling it “Snap, Crackle, Pop”Continue reading “Best-laid Plans”

Big Boy Wheels

I’m not really a sentimental guy, as of late. I guess the life of a special needs parent requires you to toughen up a bit, but there are still times where I start to get a little weepy, nay emotional. Cutting grass for the last time in the fall comes to mind. Hearing the crunchContinue reading “Big Boy Wheels”

A Summer Camp Like No Other

It’s been a week since Collier and I returned from summer camp. In many ways, this was just like any other camp. There were plenty of merit badge offerings, plenty of carb-heavy meals, plenty of sweating, and plenty of yours truly trying to avoid poison ivy. In a Covid-19 world, though, there were also plentyContinue reading “A Summer Camp Like No Other”

Our Auti-versary

As every autism parent knows, the beginning of April means that the annual “Autism Awareness Month” is upon us. Each April we bring out our blue light bulbs, puzzle piece door wreaths and wear our myriad of t-shirts, socks, hats and every other piece of autism awareness clothing we can find. But for our familyContinue reading “Our Auti-versary”

A Time for the Ages

This is a bizarre, surreal time that we are living in. Back in January, when my one “traditional” lecture course was canceled due to low enrollment, I was sort of bummed. It was replaced with an additional online class, and life moved on as normal. In hindsight, it was a blessing, as I am nowContinue reading “A Time for the Ages”

Hands on Fire

A couple of weeks ago Collier tested and earned his first rank in karate – his yellow belt. He was beaming with pride at having earned this achievement, and we were proud of him. He loves to please. In fact, when he was testing, we were in the room, and we thought he would lose points for lookingContinue reading “Hands on Fire”

Around the Campfire that Wasn’t

On Wednesday, Collier and I went to our January session of “Homeschool Appreciation Day” – his Collierism for Class Day at Valley Creek Academy, the school we use for our homeschool cover. Even though I am always the only dad there, and really the only adult male there, save for the retired fella that teaches science andContinue reading “Around the Campfire that Wasn’t”

My New Year’s UnResolutions

Last year, Amye and I came up with our own version of an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) for Collier, complete with goals for him academically, socially, and functionally. Earlier this week, we sat down to look at how we did on reaching those goals last year. There were several that we met, and quite a few thatContinue reading “My New Year’s UnResolutions”